Discomfort with the details prevents many people from obtaining the necessary coverage.

The kinds of insurances we are “required” to buy help us with the minor bumps and scrapes in life and are sometimes easy to think about, shop for or ensure that we have adequate coverage. Auto and homeowners insurance, for example, come immediately to mind.

On the other hand, disability insurance, long-term care insurance and life insurance are another matter entirely. As USA Today points out in a recent article titled “Insurance is most ignored in financial planning,” these three insurances are all too often ignored, misunderstood and difficult to think about emotionally. Nevertheless, they are often essential.

Insurance is, quite literally, a product you purchase to solve a risk. It is peace of mind. Without fail, insurance is more cost effective than coping with a disaster. To become disabled, especially late in life, is to lose income that may be necessary for you and your loved ones. Disability insurance can mitigate this. Likewise, with the rising costs of medical care and seeming inevitability of requiring a good deal of elder care, long-term care insurance can step in when the medical needs are overwhelming. And finally, life insurance helps eliminate the risk your family faces without you and your income.

Each type of insurance is well worth your consideration, and each can be budgeted to fit within a comprehensive financial plan.

Please visit our website for information on elder law and estate planning issues, and sign up for our freemonthlye-newsletter. The archive on our website contains numerous blog posts on these legal areas as well. You can also “friend” us on Facebook (R Christine Brown) to receive periodic posts on elder law issues.

Financial planning is an evaluation of one’s current and future financial state. It includes investing to certain types of insurance to secure your future needs or as you have said “solve a risk”.
Some types, like long term care insurance, might have overwhelming rates which requires adjustments to fit your comprehensive financial plan that will make you think twice, but let me tell you it is worth your consideration.